Monday, April 13, 2009

Thoughts on Phil Spector

Phil Spector, legendary record producer responsible for the famous "wall of sound," was found guilty of 2nd degree murder today.

For the past two weeks I've been listening repeatedly to Leonard Cohen's "Death of a Ladies' Man", which was produced by Spector. I first heard it at Landon Marcus' house and it really blew me away. Not to mention that it has inspired some great ideas for arrangements and sounds to use in the future.

Upon reading the news, I looked at all of Spector's credits on Wikepedia. I didn't realize that Spector turned the abandoned Beatles recordings of the "Get Back" sessions into an album:"Let It Be", which featured his extensive arrangements and reworked versions of the songs. He's done some astounding work, most of which I haven't even listened to yet.

It's troubling that madness can exist in someone so talented... I will still regard him as a genius, of course. I suppose he's just a bit crazy, too.